UK Slips Down the Average Net Speeds Chart

The UK is far from the top of the pile when it comes to average net speeds, according to a new report from content delivery network Akamai.

The ‘State of the Internet’ report from Akamai places the UK at number 27 out of a list of 201 countries, with an average speed of 3.8Mbps. This is a drop of four places, as it stood at 23rd place at the end of 2009.

These average speeds compare poorly with the top country, South Korea, which has an average net speed of 12Mbps. In second place is Hong Kong, with a 9Mbps average. Japan achieves 7.8Mbps, while the rest of the top five is made up with Romania and Latvia, which might not be bywords for tech innovation but offer its citizens an average of 6.3Mbps. The US was 16th overall, with 4.7Mbps. The global average was 1.7Mbps.
However, it also depends how you cut the cake. Where the report focussed on speeds in cities, South Korea and the US tied for second place with 12Mbps – while Japan races into the lead with a frankly huge 60Mbps average.

The report also dealt with mobile networks and not surprisingly speeds were all over the pace, with the slowest average just 105Kbps, and the fastest a solid 7.2Mbps. The UK achieved between 1 and 3.7Mbps depending on location.

For both fixed and landline though, it’s clear that the UK has a lot of work to do to stay anywhere near the leaders.